I was born in a suburb of London in
1949, four years after the end of World War II, in which my father
(born 1922) fought as a Royal Marine. He met my mother (born 1927)
while on leave from duty as a military policeman stationed in
war-torn Germany. They married in 1947. I was the first of four
children.

We lived in a small
3-bedroom, terrace house in a quiet road (before all the cars came)
in north-west London, opposite the Paddington branch of the Grand
Union Canal and just a couple of miles from Wembley Stadium.

I disliked school, and it was only just
before leaving at 16 that it dawned on me that it was supposed to be
for my benefit (I'd heard that in Russia, children who misbehaved
were sent home as punishment, which to me would have been a reward.
That set me thinking).

Outside of school I became interested
in science and got a job as a lab assistant. I started a course in
chemistry but didn't complete it. Something happened and I started
having a terrible job concentrating on anything. I went to my doctor
and told him that I needed the assistance of a psychiatrist, but he
just laughed and sent me away. The difficulties got worse and
eventually I had to give up my job. I then drifted from one menial
job to another, until I started working as an electrician, rewiring
people's houses, something I'd learned how to do from my father.

I saved up enough money to accompany a
girl friend on an overland trip to India. We got over the
Pakistan/Indian border just before war broke out between the two
countries, by which time we were in Nepal. We were gone 8 months and
had many remarkable experiences - for the price that other people
paid for a new 3-piece suite! - as I discovered on returning to
England and getting a job helping to deliver furniture.

In the Summer of 1973, I decided to
move to Germany. Why? The desire to leave home and to learn
German. Why German? Why Germany? I felt a strong affinity and
sympathy towards Germany (strange, considering the anti-German
post-war atmosphere I was brought up in), as I did to Judaism (before
starting to learn German at evening classes, I'd attended classes at
a London Synagogue). Perhaps in a previous life - if there is such a
thing - I was a German Jew.

It took me quite a while to became
proficient in the German language (when I arrived, despite the
evening classes, I could hardly speak or understand a word), but when
I had, I went on to obtain university entry requirements to study
biology at Brunswick's Technical University. I moved from Hanover
(where I'd lived up until then) to Brunswick in 1983. By 1988 I had
completed all the necessary courses and passed all my exams, but
still had to do a piece of scientific work and present it in the form
of a thesis to complete my studies and get my degree. The subject I
chose was a historical one, on the discovery of photosynthesis. I
read the original literature and repeated some of the experiments
conducted by Joseph Priestley in the 1770's, but that was as far as I
got. I was in awe of what I had learned but could not express it,
except perhaps through a long drawn-out "whoooow!", which,
unfortunately, was not enough for a thesis. Eventually I decided to
drop it and choose another, more concrete subject for my thesis: the
study of certain, sulphuric-acid- forming bacteria with the scanning
electron microscope. I spent almost a year working on the practical
part, not least because it was so interesting and enjoyable, but when
it came to writing up the results into a thesis, something happened
(again!), which greatly distracted me and was compounded by the
"whoooow! problem", so that I was unable to do so. That was
in 1991.

During the first 5 years of my time at
university I received a grant from the German government (that still
has to be paid back). I also earned money from university jobs, and
since 1989 have made a living from translating mainly scientific
texts from German into English.

Up until last year (2001) I was always
intending to elaborate and write up what I'd done, so as to complete
my studies and get my degree - if only to please my mother! I
also wanted to complete it for my own benefit and satisfaction, of
course. In fact, I did write it up, but not to my professor's
satisfaction (I am nevertheless very grateful to him for being so
patient with me, and regret disappointing him). A very patchy,
incomplete form of my work can be found in the German section of my
homepage. One day - hopefully - I will make a proper job of it and
also publish it in English.

In the meantime I have come to realise
(or deluded myself into believing) that I have more important and
pressing work to do, helping to turn Spaceship Earth from the fateful
course it is on and save humanity from extinction.

In May 2002 I moved back to England,
moving in with my mother in Harrow, a London suburb a few miles from
where I grew up (my father had died in 1998).

On 10 November 2003 I moved house with
my mother to Barkingside in northeast London to be close to my sister
and her family, and hopefully to found the Crown
Road Community.